Korea Zinc's smelting plant in Ulsan (Korea Zinc)
Korea Zinc's smelting plant in Ulsan (Korea Zinc)

Korea Zinc has invested 150 billion won ($108 million) in environmental facilities over the last five years, as it strives to become the most pro-environmental smelter to practice sustainability.

According to Korea Zinc’s recently released sustainability report, the company spent annual record high of 55.8 billion won for pro-environmental upgrades last year, up 40.9 percent from 39.6 billion won 2023. The company’s eco-friendly spending has continued to grow since logging 11.4 billion won in 2021 and 12.3 billion won in 2022.

Korea Zinc’s environmental investments are concentrated on enhancing the quality of water and air and better control of chemical materials with a new reverse osmosis technology improving the reuse rate of rainwater, advancements in reducing dust and a new tank for storing byproducts. Through such efforts, the company’s total amount of waste was cut to 657,016 tons last year, down 13.7 percent from 2023.

As for the 85 tasks that Korea Zinc has to fulfill between 2023 and 2027 under the government’s integrated environmental permission system, the company said it had completed 41 as of last year already. Korea Zinc plans to complete 15 more tasks this year.

“Reducing waste and increasing environmental investment are at the core of our ESG (environmental, social and governance) management,” said a Korea Zinc official.

“Keeping in mind that the most important value is to prioritize the harmony between environment and safety and resource circulation across all processes, we will once again continue focusing on environmental investments this year while pushing to establish the world’s most eco-friendly smelter.”


hwkan@heraldcorp.com